Classes
Thief You are a hulking, skulking thug waiting for your next victim, a dexterous rogue cozening treasures from ostensibly impenetrable vaults, a fleet-footed cutpurse outrunning shouting pursuers through a crowded market, or a brooding killer stalking a difficult target. Thieves can be big or small, fast or slow, tall or thin, but they all have one thing in common: they survive not by sword or spell, but by stealth and cunning. Wizard You owe allegiance to no man, aye, but a demon or god may hold sway upon your soul. You are a tight-lipped warlock studying ancient tomes, a witch corrupted by black magic, a demonologist trading soul-slivers for secrets, or an enchanter muttering chants in lost tongues. You are one of many foul mortals clutching at power. Will you succeed? Apprentice wizards are indeed very powerful, but master wizards fear for their souls. Wizards control magic. At least, they attempt to. Mortal magic is unpredictable and wild but powerful. Unlike clerics whose faithful service is rewarded with divine powers, wizards wield magic through mastery and dominance of forces in which they are not always voluntary participants. Wizards are sometimes trained in combat, but are rarely a match for warriors or rangers in a clash of worldly weapons. Warrior You are an armored knight on a king’s errand, a greedy brigand loyal to no man, a wild bear-skinned wanderer with an empty stomach, or a stout man-at-arms armored by a merchant’s gold. Of all the classes, warriors are the most powerful beasts in combat, able to hack down foe after foe after foe with a variety of weapons. Bard You are a storyteller, a jester, a clown, an orator, a singer, the greatest of all performers! You are that special person that brightens up the room, that lifts up the heart, that gives hope to the hopeless, that brings a smile to the heartbroken, and comfort to the bereaved. You revel in the audience’s adulation of your acts. Your masterful and natural talent shines forth as you perform, eliciting a wide range of emotions from your audience. As you travel you realize that no society or culture is complete without its bards. You are that one person that records the great events and tragedies, who remembers the fallen and lost causes. The one whose performances can inspire people to greatness. Cleric The gods wrote divine rules in the stars for the behaviors of mortal man, and if man lives by these rules, his gods reward him in this life or the next. That is what your god tells you, and as his cleric, you will persuade, convert, or destroy those who speak otherwise. You adventure to find gold or holy relics, destroy abominations and enemies, and convert heathens to the truth. You’ll be rewarded – even if you have to die to receive that reward. An adventuring cleric is a militant servant of a god, often part of a larger order of brothers. He wields the weapons of his faith: physical, spiritual, and magical. Physically, he is a skilled fighter when using his god’s chosen weapons. Spiritually, he is a vessel for the expression of his god’s ideals, able to channel holy powers that harm his god’s enemies. Magically, he is able to call upon his god to perform amazing feats. Both clerics and wizards may gain powers from gods, but in different ways. A cleric worships a greater power and is rewarded for his service. A wizard unlocks the hidden mysteries of the universe in order to dominate powers both known and unknowable. Ranger You are a tough wilderness warrior, living and lurking at the fringe of civilized areas. Your life is often a lonely one but you can guide adventuring parties across dangerous regions. You are trained to survive in wilderness environments. As a survivalist warrior, you excel at martial combat against your favored enemies using your proficiency in dual-weapon wielding or your archery talent. Tough and resolved, you are attuned to your surroundings and in the wilderness you have a keen expertise in tracking and survival. Elf You are a strong, slender demi-human native to woodlands and shaded forests. You avoid the provincial oafs of the younger races, with their bumbling war-making and crude superstitions. Against the noisy backdrop of their empires rising, falling, and rising again, your fae enclaves advance the study of arts and crafts millennia in the making. Elves live for more than a thousand years in small cities of like-minded individuals. Reproducing and maturing slowly, and likewise studying and practicing with great patience over many years, each elf masters his chosen area of expertise at a level of competency no man can hope to achieve. Those elves who study the martial or magical arts may find themselves in search of an arcane relic, a divine token, or a legendary weapon. These seekers comprise the rare elven adventurers encountered by humans. Elven longevity, combined with their skill with magic, has created many legends about their racial roots. Whether elves really have traffic with demons and gods is for them to know and the other races to discover. Elves can cast spells as wizards do. An elf of the same power level as a human wizard also has many decades of combat experience. As such, elves typically cast their spells just as competently as human wizards and also have martial skills. Halfling You are a little man with a big appetite and a comfortable home, which you plan to return to as soon as this one little quest is completed. And once you’re home, you plan to never leave again. The taller races might enjoy hunting for gold and glory, but all you ask for is a full stewpot, a cozy home, and pleasant interlocutors for teatime. Halflings are un-ambitious country-dwellers who live in well-ordered peace and quiet. Their small stature and modest goals let them escape the notice of most major powers. They keep to themselves and make contact with others only when they are inadvertently drawn into the affairs of "the big folk" as they call elves, humans, and even dwarves. Halflings prefer lives of farming, gardening, beer-brewing, and other simple crafts. The few that take up adventuring are usually traders or ne’er-do-wells who have somehow been thrust outside the ordered nature of their normal lives. Dwarf You are a short, stout demi-human with an unabashed love of treasure. Nothing pleases you more than the gleam of gems and the solidity of a gold ingot. You love to count your coins! The sight of treasure sometimes makes you lose your head – just as does the swirling chaos of combat. You love to fight wildly, swinging a weapon with brutal effectiveness as you chop your way through your foes. Dwarves live far beneath the ground and rarely set foot above it. Dark caves and deep cities were once your home, but now you live a wandering life: you are an exiled defender selling your martial might, a curious craftsman trading your talents, or a bitter renegade unwilling to settle for your lot in life. You are an object of suspicion to surface-worlders as well as other dwarves. Dwarven societies are rigid, orderly, and prescribed caste societies, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities bound by byzantine rules of age and occupation. Any dwarf who rejects this insular defensiveness to pursue a vocation of gregarious curiosity is, to his fellows, a loose cannon or even a traitor.